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PR's Whole wheat Pita bread

PR's Whole wheat Pita bread

I have baked two breads this past weekend, Whole Wheat Pita, and David’s San Joaquin SD. The whole Wheat pitas, however, were the new favorites after I have finally had success with them.

The whole wheat Pita bread from Peter Reinhart’s (Whole grain breads), and pitas in general have had me intimidated for quite some time. Simply put, they never puffed well even on hot stone, rendering my efforts futile. Not anymore, I learned few tricks from youtube on how to bake pitas and have them puff on stove.

I have made my biga with a sourdough starter, and retarded the bulk dough in the refrigerator for 6 hours after adding 1 tsp of instant yeast - 4 grams (Thanks Karin, and Janet). The cold overproofed dough was divided into 8 pieces, rounded and allowed to rest for ½ an hour. The rounds were then flattened into discs and rolled into pita shapes. 15 minutes later, a flat pan was heated on medium range stovetop while a round wire mesh was placed on a larger range. This is a youtube video demonstrating the process. (Mind the steps, they won’t puff properly if you overly cook either side). Although the video's title is roti/chapati (Indian breads), it works just as well for pita.

90% of the pitas puffed perfectly, something I have not achieved in the past. I was delighted!

Being from the middle east where Pita bread is staple ,my household were happy to have some authentic pitas at last ,after numerous failures. They were nutty, and soft with a hint of sourness from the biga. I will be making these again.

I also baked David's San Joaquin Sourdough. This is one fabulous bread, even without the full 18 hour retardation.

Those both look great Khalid. I've been meaning to try Pita's for the longest time and I like your version from PR so this one was bookmarked to try soon. David's formula is a great one and you certainly did it justice as I would always expect from you.

I was skeptical of my ability to make good pitas reliably, but once i found that you don't need to preheat your stone for an hour to bake few pitas, and that it could be done on the stove i was encouraged.

Stove top is the way to go for Pita at home, agreed. Although Chapatis are unleavened of course. Can you make pita without yeast too? Just wondering.

If you have a gas stove, then I would recommend dropping the bread directly onto the naked flame for a second or two, either side to make it puff up once baked through on the skillet. The Indians call the skillet a "Tava". I love making chapatis, but we don't have gas here in Powburn, so have to cook electric. Useful video link; many thanks for that.

I used a starter that I had in the refrigerator. I didn't feed or revive it, but I just added about 1/4 cup starter to water to make 305 gr. total. Then I mixed in (by hand) about 375 gr whole wheat (actually 325 gr ww and 50 gr buckwheat) flour, and 1-1/2 t salt. I let it rise for 12 hour at room temp (66F). overnight. The next morning, I spent 3 hours at 30 min intervals,using the fold method as described in Tartine's bread book. I added some cooled cooked oatmeal porridge (about 1/2 c) roughly midway through the fold process. I used the electric stove top to cook the pita and they puffed beautifully.

you don't need the mesh, you can drop them straight on the flame. Keep the heat low, and the grid which supports your cooking pots will do the same for your breads. They only need a few seconds each side on a low flame to puff up.

I had the same experience of not getting puffed pita in a hot oven on a stone. But then I watched the roti youtube you referred to and I got a lot of puffed pita the first time! I am so excited!

I was in the Middle East last fall and I found most of the pita were quite doughy. Then on the way home to the US, I passed through London and ate some of the pita in Shepherd's Bush. In particular there was a very thin one that I have never had. Later and unexpectedly, I found that a sponge method worked for these. After the first rise for the sponge, I added enough ww flour to have a very sticky wet dough. With floured hands, I carefully made some balls of dough and let them rest for an hour. By hand, I flattened them and stretched them as thin as I could. I got some really thin pita that puffed when I cooked them on a flat cast iron with a final turn over the hot coils of my electric stove.

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